Engine cylinder repair method and apparatus



G. P. SETTER ENGINE CYLINDER REPAIR METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed- Dec. 15,1922 Patented Apr. 21, 1925.

UNI ED STATES GEORGE P. smrnn, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR or ONEHALI TOP-ALFRED om;

or'cHIcAeo; ILLINOIS? ENGINE CYLINDER REPAIR METHOD AND APPARATUS."

Application filed December 15;: 1922. I SerialNO. 607,087.

Toall whom it may concern:

Be it known. that: I, GEORGE-P, SETTER, a citizenofi the United States,and resident of Chicago, Cook: County, Illinois, have invented ascertain new i and useful Improvement in Engine Cylinder-Repair Methodsand Apparatus, of which thefollowing is a specification:

This invention relates to the repairing of internal combustion enginecylinders, such asthose employed on automobiles, and par ti'cularly tothe fillingofgrooves cut in the inner surface of the cylinder.Heretofore, this work has been done'in various ways, necessitatingtakingout the cylinder and laying it on its side, so that metal could bemelted and run into the groove to be filled. This, of course, is more orless expensive,

inasmuclias the taking out-'of'the engine and the' replacement thereofis in itself a matter of some time and trouble. Furthermore, melting themetal and running it into the groove and inner surface of the cylinder,While the latter is c0ld,does not always result iii-securely anchoringthe filling in the groove, and fillings applied'jin this way have veryoften dropped out. or have been pulled outWhilebeingf trimmed'ofl,before replacing 'theengine'in' the automobile, or in the motor boatorother place from which it was taken. 7 1 V i Generally stated, theobject of the invention is tofprovide an improved method and apparatusfor filling grooves or cavities in the'innersurfa ce of internalcombustion en gine cylinders, such as the grooves: cut some times bythe, Wrist p-in,"or in other, ways, whereby it will not be necessarytoremove the engine cylinders from their position in the automobile, orwhether'the engine is "mounted, and whereby the fillings applied tothe-grooves or'cajvities will beanchored firmly therein, thusnot onlyreducing the cost of doing this kind of work, but also ensuring betterresults'than were obtained with methodsheretofore employed for thispurpose. i a

It is also an object to providecertain details and features ofconstruction tending to increase the general efiiciency and thedesirability of an apparatus of this particular character.

7 To these and other useful ends the invention consists in mattersherein-after set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanylngdrawings'1n wh1ch Figurel 1s a vertlcal section'of an 111-.

te'rnal combustion engine cylinder, showing certain portionsthereofbroken away for convenience of, illustration, and showing a verticalsection of the apparatus involving the principles of the invention, inoperative positionwithin the cylinder.

F'gure 2's a transverse Or horizontal; section on line 22* in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a face view of a front plate of said apparatus.

'Fignre'4-is a face view of anintermediate plate or shim which may beused if? the groove in'theicy-linder is of considerable depth, so as toallowqfor-s'hrinkage of the filling;-- I q i Figure 5: is a horizontalsection On"; line 5-5. in Figure 1.

F'gure G is a similar view, but showing the filling apparatus removed,and showing the filling trimmed down smooth and flush with the inner}surface of the cylinder.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a heating apparatus m1theform of a: torch body 1 having a vertical combustionw chamber a 2 andlateral; openings 3 to admit'air thereto- The burner 4, of any suitable:character, is secured to the lower end of said torchbodyltosupplythe-fluid fuel, such as gas or vapor, to produce heat. A, valve 5-isPIOVlClQd t'ocontrol the supply of fluid fuel, in a manner thatwill beread ily understood. .Said" torch body also has a: vertical chamber .6which serves as a crucible or melting pot for the metal? which I is tobe used in filling." the grooveor cavity in; the inner surface of: thecylinder. Figure 1; this groove is shown at 8, and'it will'beiseen.:that the aluminum plate 9'is interposed between-the curved outerside of the'body. 1 andithecurved'inner surface of the cylinder. Saidtorch body has. anopeningt-lO through which the melted metal flows tothe lower end'of the groove in the cylinder, and the plate 9 has-anopening 11 which registers with t-heopening lOfor th-ispurtop for thispurpose. Any of the well known metals known for this purpose can beused, and when melted such metal does not stick to the aluminum plate 9,but will adhere to the metal of the cylinder.

Now it will be seen that before the metal 7 is melted, the heat of thetorch will heat the entire structure, including the cylinder, so thatthe metal will be permitted to run into a groove in a cylinder wallwhich is highly heated, and which has been heated as a matter of fact,to a temperature equal to or above the melting point of the metal to beused for the filling. Thus the filling tends to adhere tightly to thecylinder, in the groove or cavity in which the metal is caused to flowupwardly, for as soon as the metal is melted and assumes a liquidcondition it will rise in the groove 8 until it reaches the level lofthe other metal in the chamber 6 of the torch body. The person doing thework can then turn the valve 5 and stop the heat and thus stop theoperation and permit the metal to 0001.

Any suitable means can be employed for holding the apparatus in place.For example, as shown in Figure 1, a screw 14 can be threaded in theblocks 15 and the latter can bear respectively against the torch and theother side of the cylinder, and the screw 7 when tightened to push theblocks away from each other will firmly hold the apparatus in positionagainst the scored or grooved side of the cylinder.

Sometimes, of course, the scoring or groove or cavity is so deep that itrequires a considerable amount of metal to fill it, and in such case thefilling may shrink when it cools to such an extent that the outersurface of the filling will not be flush with the surface of thecylinder. In such cases, the auxiliary aluminum plate 16 can beemployed, having the vertical slot 17 opposite the groove to be filled.This plate 16 may be inserted as a shim between the plate 9 and thesurface of the cylinder, so that the filling will not only fill thegroove in the cylinder, but will also fill the slot 17 and thus protrudeslightly beyond the surface of the cylinder. However, when the fillingcools, the shrinkage will then be about equal to the thickness of theplate 16, and'the outer surface of the filling will be found to bepractically flush with the surface of the cylinder. The thickness'of theplate 16 will depend, of course, upon the depth of the groove to befilled, and the character of the metal employed for the filling, as somemetals have more shrinkage than others. For ordinary purposes, however,the thickness of the plate 16 may be the same as the thickness of theplate 9, in case the groove or scoring of the cylinder is of such depththat a little allowance must be made for shrinkage of the fillmg.

Now the method and apparatus shown can be used, it will be seen, withouttaking the engine out, as the operation is performed while the engineremains in vertical position. In other words, it is not necessary totake the engine cylinders out and lay them down horizontally in order toflow the metal into the grooves or cavities in the cylinder. To thecontrary, the engine cylinder remains in position; the engine cylinderis heated while the metal is being melted within the cylinder; the metalis supplied to the lower end of the groove in the cylinder and forcedupward therein; and thus a filling is made in the form of a casting inthe mold formed on one side by the groove in the cylinder and on theother side by the smooth surface of the apparatus. It will beunderstood, of course, that a plunger (not shown) may be inserted in theupper end of the chamber 6, if necessary, to positively force the metaldown therein and thus force the molten metal upward in the groove in thecylinder. Ordinarily, it will be understood, the weight of the metal inchamber 6 is sufiicient to force it through the openings 10 and 11 intoone end of the groove and flows along the V groove to the other endthereof, and this may be done vertically as shown in order to obviatethe necessity of taking the engine out of the automobile, or away fromthe other place where it is being used, so that considerable expense isthus avoided by using the method shown and described.

The torch body can be constructed in any desired or suitable manner, butit is preferably provided with a removable front wall 18 which containsthe opening 10 previously mentioned. The main body of the torch can bemade of cast iron or of any suitable metal, but the front wall 18 ispreferably of copper or brass, and this plate may be held in place byscrews 19, shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, or by any suitable means,whereby it can be removed when necessary or desirable.

hat I claim as my invention is 1. The method of filling grooves orcavities in the inner surface of an internal combustion engine cylinder,comprising the maintaining of the cylinder in vertically disposedposition, the melting of the metal and the flowing thereof to the lowerend of the groove in the cylinder, causing the molten metal'to rise insaid groove, under confinement therein, and allowing the metal to coolto form a permanent filling for said groove.

2. A method as specified in claim 1, com prising also, in combinationwith said other steps, the'heating of the cylinder wall by the operationof melting the metal to be used for the filling, so that the metal inrising in said groove has contact only with the confining surfaces whichhave been preheated to the temperature of the molten metal itself.

3. A method as specified in claim 1, comprising also, in combinationwith said other steps, the preheating of the cylinder wall to atemperature substantially the same as the temperature necessary formelting the metal to form the filling, so that the groove in thecylinder wall is preheated to facili tate the filling thereof by easyflow of the molten metal therein, and to cause the molten metal to morefirmly adhere to the engine cylinder.

4. The method of filling grooves in the inner surface of internalcombustion engine cylinders, comprising the closing of the outer side ofthe groove, to form a cavity, and the flowing of molten metal from oneend of said cavity to the other, under confinement, to produce a fillingin the form of a casting in said groove.

5. A method as specified in claim 4, comprising also, in combinationtherewith, the preheating of said groove to facilitate the flow of metaltherein, and to ensure adhesion of the filling to the metal of thecylinder.

6. A method as specified in claim 4, comprising also, in combinationtherewith, the use of the heat for melting the metal to preheat thecylinder wall to substantially the same temperature, so that the metalfor the filling is flowed freely in contact with surfaces havingsubstantially the same temperature, the metal for the filling beingmelted close to the groove for this purpose.

7. The method of filling grooves in the inner surface of internalcombustion engine cylinders, comprising the mounting of the cylinder invertically disposed position, and the flowing of the molten metal in thegroove while the engine cylinder remains in said position, by confiningthe molten metal in said groove until it cools therein.

8. Apparatus for filling grooves in the inner surfaces of motor vehicleinternal combustion engine cylinders, comprising means to provide asmooth surface to confine the molten metal in the groove, means formelt.- ing the metal for the filling, having an opening to supply saidmolten metal to the one end of said groove, so that the metal will flowbetween the groove and said confining surface, and means to removablyhold the apparatus in position in the engine cylinder, while thecylinder is in position,

thereby to obviate the necessity of removing the engine from thevehicle.

9. Apparatus as specified in claim 8, said smooth surface being formedby an aluminum plate.

10. Apparatus as specified in claim 8,in combination with a thin plateinterposed between the engine cylinder and said confining surface toallow for shrinkage of the filling when the depth of the groove is suchas to require such allowance for shrinkage, said interposed plate havinga slot into which the filling protrudes, before the filling cools, sothat the thickness of this plate determines the allowance made forshrinkage.

11. Apparatus as specified in claim 8, said melting means comprising aburner and a torch-like body having a melting cavity or chamber therein,with said feed opening leading from the bottom of said chamber to thelower end of the groove in the cylinder.

12. The improved apparatus for filling grooves in the inner surfaces ofinternal combustion engine cylinders, operative while the cylinder is invertically disposed position, substantially as shown and described.

13. The method of filling grooves or cavities in the inner surface of aninternal combustion engine cylinder, comprising the closing of the outerside of the groove, to form a cavity, flowing molten metal in saidgroove, under confinement therein, allowing the metal to cool and adhereto the cylinder, and removing the confining means, so that the'fillmgfor the groove Wlll have a smooth outer surface.

GEORGE P. SETTER.

